The micro-organisms of fermentation practically considered / by Alfred Jörgensen.
- Jörgensen, Alfred, 1848-1925.
- Date:
- 1889
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The micro-organisms of fermentation practically considered / by Alfred Jörgensen. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![introducecl by pathologists, wlio seklom have to deal with any of the mici’o-orgaiiisms wliicli raay not be classed with the Bacteria, is an objectionable one in several respects, inore especially as, strictly spealdng, it excludes oi'ganisms such as the Saccharoinycetes, the accurate study of whose life- history and functions has been really the starting-point and foundation of this very brauch of Science. The special treatises upon Bacteria and their allied forms, which have appeared within the last few years, have treated of these organisms principally in their pathogenic aspect, and have, I think, laid too little stress upon the debt which the pathologist owes to the fermentation industries generally ; yet it is abundantly evident that the principles first laid dow]i in the “ Etudes sur le Vin,” the “ Etudes sur le Vinaigre,” and the “ Etudes sur la Biere,” rendered it possible for Koch to establish, on the one hand, the causal relation of the Bacillus anthracis to splenic fever, and on the other, the siinilar relation of the Bacillus tuberculosis to tubercular disease. It is now but little more than a quarter of a centui’y since Pasteur established on a firm basis the vitalistic theory of fermentation, and we Imow that he did not relinquish the study of the industrial processes which had afforded him such ample means of establishing bis theory until the year 1876. A little prior to this time the Imowledge, slowly but surely acquired, that all fermentative and putrefactive changes are the concomitants and the physiological expression of minute organisms, had hegun to make itself feit in the domain of experimental physiology, and in the etiology of the infectious diseases had given new life and vigour to the theory of “ living contagia,” a theory which had been arrived at deductively, and very clearly expressed, as far back as 1840, by Henle. In Pasteur’s earlier works we often find indications of a belief that Ins labours would ultimately have an important bearing upon the contagious diseases, but with characteristic caution, when convincing experimental evidence is wanting, we find this ophaion expressed more as an article of personal faith than as compelling the judgment](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28050459_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
